Sarah Corbin Robert | |
|---|---|
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| 17th DAR President General, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution | |
| In office 1938–1941 | |
| Preceded by | Florence Hague Becker |
| Succeeded by | Helena R. Pouch |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 26,1886 |
| Died | May 1,1972 (aged 85) |
| Signature |  |
Sarah Emily Corbin Robert served as the 17th President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution and was a noted authority on parliamentary procedure.
Sarah was born on 26 August 1886 [1] in Pennsylvania,the daughter of William Wallace Corbin and Emma Flora Hamilton. She married Henry Martyn Robert Jr.,son of Henry Martyn Robert and Helen M Thresher,on 26 August 1919 in Tioga County,New York. [1] Their son was Henry Martyn Robert III. [1] She died on 1 May 1972 in Annapolis,Maryland and is buried at Saint Anne's Cemetery. [2]
She graduated from Owego Free Academy in 1905,and Syracuse University in 1909. [1] Robert taught American History in New York and New Jersey High Schools for a decade. [1] She was an authority on parliamentary procedure,teaching courses on parliamentary law at Columbia University,the University of Maryland,and The United States Naval Academy. [3] She holds the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature. [4]
She served as a trustee for Robert’s Rules of Order,whose creator,Henry Martyn Robert,was her father-in-law. She was head of the authorship team for the 7th edition,printed in 1970. [5] [6]
Robert joined the Stewart Tea Party Chapter in 1921,where she soon served in a variety of roles,including Chapter Regent. She also served as Maryland State Recording Secretary,as national chairman on Patriotic Education (1926–1929),as chairman of the Credentials Committee (1931–1934),and as Treasurer General (1935-1938). She was an advocate for both DAR Schools and standardization and simplification of DAR publications and practices,such as registration at Continental Congress. [7]
Robert was elected DAR President General in 1938,having run unopposed. The DAR celebrated its 50th anniversary during the Robert administration. Projects overseen by Roberts include funding for a new high-school facility at Tamassee DAR School,which would be completed in 1942 and named for her, [8] the continuation of the Penny Pines project to replant thousands of acres of trees in national forests,and the Valley Forge Bell Tower project at Washington Memorial Chapel in the Valley Forge National Historical Park,which installed 17 new bells.). She also represented the DAR at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City. With war on the horizon,Robert initiated War Relief Service Committees and encouraged chapter partnership with the American Red Cross. [7]
In 1939 Robert personally denied the use of DAR Constitution Hall to the famous black contralto Marian Anderson. [9] Anderson was singing as part of a concert series in Washington being organized by Howard University. Her fame required a large venue and the DAR Hall was the largest in the city. However,Robert cited segregation laws and longstanding agreements regarding segregation among D.C. performance venues as the reason for the denying use of the Hall. The concert was instead held at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington,but the DAR's decision created a backlash,including the resignation of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt from the organization. [7] [10] Four years later,in 1942,the DAR invited Anderson to perform in Constitution Hall in the Army Emergency Relief Fund concert series hosted there. Negotiations resulted in that concert being integrated,but Anderson was unsuccessful in negotiating for the promise of future integrated events. Anderson went on to perform at Continental Hall in 1953 and 1956,and the DAR awarded her the Centennial Medal in 1992 for outstanding service to the nation. [11]
Thomas Mifflin was an American merchant,soldier,and politician from Pennsylvania,who is regarded as a Founding Father of the United States for his roles during and after the American Revolution. Mifflin signed the United States Constitution,was the first governor of Pennsylvania,serving from 1790 to 1799,and was also the state's last president,succeeding Benjamin Franklin in 1788.
Marian Anderson:The Lincoln Memorial Concert is a 1939 documentary film that documents a concert performance by African American opera singer Marian Anderson after the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) had her barred from singing in Washington D.C.'s Constitution Hall because she was Black. Officials of the District of Columbia also barred her from performing in the auditorium of a white public high school. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt helped hold the concert at Lincoln Memorial,on federal property. The performance on Easter Sunday,April 9,1939,was attended by 75,000. In 2001,this documentary film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
Marian Anderson was an American contralto. She performed a wide range of music,from opera to spirituals. Anderson performed with renowned orchestras in major concert and recital venues throughout the United States and Europe between 1925 and 1965.
The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution,DAR or NSDAR,is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in supporting the American Revolution. A non-profit group,the organization promotes education and patriotism. Its membership is limited to direct lineal descendants of soldiers or others of the American Revolution era who aided the revolution and its subsequent war. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and have a birth certificate indicating that their gender is female. DAR has over 190,000 current members in the United States and other countries. The organization's motto is "God,Home,and Country".
Margaret Cochran Corbin was a woman who fought in the American Revolutionary War. On November 16,1776,her husband,John Corbin,was one of 2800 American soldiers defending Fort Washington in northern Manhattan from 8,000 attacking Hessian troops under British command. Margaret was too nervous to let her husband go into battle alone,so she decided she wanted to go with him. Since she was a nurse,she was allowed to accompany her husband as a nurse for injured soldiers. John Corbin was on the crew of one of two cannons the defenders deployed;when he fell in action,Margaret Corbin took his place and continued to work the cannon until she too was seriously wounded. It is said that Corbin was standing next to her husband when he fell during battle. Immediately,she took his post,and because she had watched her husband,a trained artilleryman,fire the cannon so much,she was able to fire,clean and aim the cannon with great ease and speed. This impressed the other soldiers and was the beginning of her military career. She later became the first woman in U.S. history to receive a pension from Congress for military service when she could no longer work due to injury,and was enlisted into the Corps of Invalids.
DAR Constitution Hall is a concert hall located at 1776 D Street NW,near the White House in Washington,D.C. It was built in 1929 by the Daughters of the American Revolution to house its annual convention when membership delegations outgrew Memorial Continental Hall. Later,the two buildings were connected by a third structure housing the DAR Museum,administrative offices,and genealogical library. DAR Constitution Hall is still owned and operated by the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985. It has been a major cultural center of the city since its construction,and houses its largest auditorium.
The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America (NSCDA) is an American organization composed of women who are descended from an ancestor "who came to reside in an American Colony before 1776,and whose services were rendered during the Colonial Period." The organization has 44 corporate societies. The national headquarters is Dumbarton House in Georgetown,Washington,D.C. The executive director since September 2021 is Carol Cadou.
Philip Corbin Lee (1681–1744),although born to the prominent Lee family of Virginia became a planter in Maryland,as well as naval officer and served in both houses of the Maryland General Assembly. He is sometimes considered the forebear of the Maryland or Blenheim Lees,although that manor house was built by his successors. He is not to be confused with his nephew Philip Ludwell Lee,the eldest son of his brother Thomas Lee,who built Stratford Hall in Westmoreland County,Virginia.
Anna Ella Carroll was an American political activist,pamphleteer and lobbyist. She wrote many pamphlets criticizing slavery. She played a significant role as an adviser to the Lincoln presidential cabinet during the American Civil War (1861-1865).
Helena Rebecca Hellwig Pouch was an American female tennis player and served as the 18th President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Ellen Hardin Walworth was an American author,lawyer,and activist who was a passionate advocate for the importance of studying history and historic preservation. Walworth was one of the founders of the Daughters of the American Revolution and was the organization's first secretary general. She was the first editor of the DAR's official magazine,American Monthly Magazine. In 1893,during a speech at the World's Columbian Exposition,Walworth was one of the first people to propose the establishment of the United States National Archives. Walworth was one of the first women in New York State to hold a position on a local board of education,a role that was frequently used to bolster the call for women's suffrage.
Emily May Gibson Braerton was an American activist who was an early advocate of historic preservation in the western United States. She was the Vice President General for the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) from 1950–1953 and remained an Honorary Vice President General until her death in Santa Ana,California in 1966. She was a member of the DAR's Peace Pipe Chapter and served as Colorado State Regent from 1950–1953.
Eugenia Scholay Washington was an American historian,civil servant,and a founder of the lineage societies,Daughters of the American Revolution and Daughters of the Founders and Patriots of America.
Marion Howard Brazier was an American journalist,editor,author,and clubwoman of Boston. She was the author of:Perpetrations,a Book of Humor,and Cheer,Philosophy and Comfort.
Florence Anderson Clark was an American author,newspaper editor,librarian,and university administrator. She served for 14 years as assistant librarian at the University of Texas (UT),and in honor for her service to the university,she was first woman to have her portrait hung in the university's Main Tower. Clark was affiliated with several organizations,including the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R),Colonial Dames of America,and United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Lynn Forney Young is an American civil leader and clubwoman. She was the 43rd President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution,serving from 2013 to 2016. As the organization's president general,she oversaw a $4 million restoration of DAR Constitution Hall,led the organization in setting a Guinness World Record for "most letters to military personnel collected in one month" with 100,904 letters to members of the United States Armed Forces,and met with Elizabeth II during an event to launch a project to digitilize the Royal Archives of George III.
Elizabeth Newkirk Seimes served as the 27th President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Adele Woodhouse Erb Sullivan served as the 26th President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution and noted for her 1968 visit to Vietnam with General William C. Westmoreland.
Sarah Johnson Cocke was an American writer and civic leader. She was also active in several women's clubs. Cocke's works of Southern fiction include,Bypaths in Dixie,Master of the Hills,and Old Mammy Tales from Dixie Land. A memoir,A Woman of Distinction:From Hoopskirts to Airplanes,a Remembrance,was published posthumously.
Lena Lorraine Santos Ferguson was an American secretary and Civil Rights advocate. Ferguson was denied membership to a local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1980 due to her race,after applying multiple times. She was admitted to the organization as an at-large member in 1983,becoming the second African-American member. Ferguson pushed for the Daughters of the American Revolution to revise their national bylaws,leading to the organization banning discrimination based on race. She later founded,and served as chair,of the D.C. DAR Scholarship Committee. Ferguson was honored with a memorial plaque in the garden at DAR Constitution Hall.